My mom died this evening. It was hard to say good-bye, but I had encouraged her to let go for the past couple of days so the end was not a surprise. I know I will need time to process and mourn and remember, but am glad I was here for her thes... Read more

I came to care for my 100 year old mother in October. She suffers from a collection of painful conditions, blindness, deafness and Alzheimer's. It's been so hard to be away from my husband and also from our daughter's family. I so miss those ... Read more

We just took a four day trip with our 10 year old grandson. Took him to celebrate his birthday with his cousins. We had such a good time in Seattle. Ate way too much of far too many wrong things, but it was such fun to watch him be so grown u... Read more

Ouch! Another bad morning on the scale, but I do think I'm getting back on track. My fear is failure as in a few days I must drive out to care for my 100 year old mom. She really needs full time care and can't afford it. She refused to go in... Read more

A bit sad today after gaining 2 pounds on trip to visit son's family. We ate out every day, usually twice each day. Had some amazing meals and did a lot of walking. But, walking did not counter all those calories and carbs. Today I'm getting... Read more

It may be 59 days until our tropical get away in December, but in an hour or so we leave to pick up our 10 year old grandson to board a plane for a fun long weekend getaway. I am so excited to have his all to ourselves - no fighting with his bi... Read more

I walked for quite a long time today as I hunted for gifts for granddaughters and then once home I had to walk back down to find a lightweight travel purse for a short trip this week and a rain coat for grandson we are taking with us to Seattle ... Read more

Another week has passed and though I think I'm becoming more toned, the weight isn't budging. Perhaps this will be the week I see it drop. Meanwhile, I'm alternating between the gym and the pool. For example, did a rowing 5K Saturday and swam... Read more

I did very poorly over the past several days. Way too much celebrating of birthdays - parties, cakes, dining out. So, this week i'm back on track and should see more progress soon. I did get to the gym both Saturday and Sunday. Today I'm so ... Read more

I was pleased to discover that my weight dropped ever so slightly over the weekend. Still, that beats the alternative. Then today I literally walked around doing various errands for 4 1/2 hours. I was too exhausted to hit the gym, but packed ... Read more

After reading a countdown blog from another Sparker I decided to add this to my plans. So, this is day 77 before going on vacation that includes lots of beaches, snorkeling. hiking, boating, swimming and sightseeing. I can hardly wait. I've r... Read more

Today was a pretty awesome exercise day. Although I woke with a cold/sore throat and had been really fatigued as this came on the past couple of days, I went to the gym with my husband and managed to: rowing machine 20 minutes, walk on treadmil... Read more

Today I spent part of my 20 minutes of exercise doing couch exercises - couch squats, couch crunches and couch push ups. I then got in some walking to push me to victory....in that area. However, the emotional eating beast attacked when I got ... Read more

Still on target with daily exercise...some days a lot, some days a little, but everyday something. But, unfortunately I've not been very good on the food side of things since returning form caring for my mother. I ate so clean for more than a ... Read more

Had to amend my streak of 20 minutes per day of exercise when I reviewed my calendar. I hadn't counted all the days that I worked in my mom's garden while I cared for her for three weeks. I worked from 2-6 hours each day so decided to backtrac... Read more